The most expected and refined itinerary into taste will come back soon: Taste n. 5, as usual offered by Pitti Immagine.

This year, the renowned gastronomic event will take place from 13th to 15th March 2010 at Stazione Leopolda in Florence, for delighting and satisfying the palate of expert or simply curious people. Three days full of tasting, buying, delicacies and events dedicated to food.

Taste. In viaggio con le diversità del gusto will take place in a great showroom featuring 200 specialist and élite companies which will let you discover and rediscover the treasures of Italian food and the biological diversities of food in the global age.

Taste is an exciting experience which everyone can try, from Haute Cuisine to simple visitors, for whoever loves cooking, special ingredients and high quality food.

Lost into Taste, visitors will have the chance to discover and follow different itineraries divided according to the subject:

Taste Tour is the tasting path made of products suggested by the companies, in order to remind us and make us appreciate the “Made in Italy” specialty: from black truffle, to Parmesan of Parma or the hand-made egg pasta.

Taste Tools gathers a dimension made of big and small kitchen tools and gadgets, items of clothing and technical and professional equipments for cooking.

Taste Shop is the special corner dedicated to your shopping and where you will have the opportunity to fill your bags with delicious gastronomic products which you will see along the itinerary.

Taste Ring, the section dedicated to interactive talk shows and interesting meetings with experts of gastronomy and cuisine, wants to tell the most curious issues and several aspects of social, economic and cultural life relating to food.

Finally, Taste Press, the area dedicated to taste and gastronomy press where it is possible to find hundreds of magazines, books and cooking manuals of any kind. Maybe it could be the right time to learn cooking!

All the high quality cooking, food and taste addicted are invited in Florence to participate in Taste n. 5, the travel inside Italian aroma and flavour.

For further information about this and other events in Florence, please visit our website www.aboutflorence.com

TASTE. IN VIAGGIO CON LE DIVERSITÀ DEL GUSTO

When:
13-15 March 2010
Where:
Florence, Stazione Leopolda - V.le Fratelli Rosselli, 5
Hours:
10:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. (Monday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
Admission:
€ 10 for the general public - € 5 for members of the trade

Are you ready to run? The start is scheduled on 21st March 2010 at 9.00 am from Via dei Fori Imperiali (near the Coliseum) in Rome, in order to start a lovely spring with a day entirely dedicated to sport and fun.

One of the most expected sport events, which boasts of the stunning scenery of Rome, where every year thousands visitors gather, and many celebrations and performances take place: musical bands, shows and much entertainment to celebrate such a day dedicated to people looking for sport and well-being dipped into nature.

As tradition says, the marathon of professional athletes will be accompanied by the “RomaFun” – La Stracittadina, the non-competitive 4 km long race open to everyone: the registration is € 7,00 and you can enrol at the Marathon Village or the authorised retailers.

The “Marathone Village” as always will be waiting for all the athletes and non-athletes with its many food stalls, toilets, shuttle services, police services and first aid points, in order to provide everyone’s safety in such a day of sport and culture.

So folks…you can’t miss it! Much fun, sport and open-air wellness: this is the Marathon of Rome 2010 and awaits you all in great numbers to celebrate this joyful day!

For further information about this and other events in Rome, please visit our always up-to-date website www.aboutroma.com.

The city of La Spezia, located in the Eastern Riviera of the Region of Liguria, every year hosts thousands visitors coming from other Italian regions. Traditionally, the town fair counts about 800 typical stalls belonging to hawkers and craftsmen coming from the province of La Spezia and the neighboring Regions - Emilia Romagna and Tuscany -  and from Northern Italy.

The event was conceived in 1565 in order to develop the trade of the area. In fact, visitors will find on sale many typical products, delicacies, sweets, toys, clothes and shoes, junk jewelry and any sort of household and gift items.

From 9.00 am on March 19th, the town fair will take place for three days in Viale Mazzini, Via Don Minzioni, Viale Italia, Piazza Europa and Passeggiata Morin. Do you know the city of La Spezia? Then take a look at our new Liguria Tourist Guide, with useful maps, information and tips!

In addition, once you arrived in La Spezia, you will have the chance to visit the treasures located in the neighbourhood, such as the renowned and stunning sea villages of Cinque Terre, where it is possible to go for a stroll by the sea, Lerici Castle, the characteristic medieval town of Sarzana to snoop around among the shops selling hand-crafted products and why not, maybe to have dinner in one of the many typical porterhouses located in the alleys of this ancient town.

We remind you that the entrance to the town fair of La Spezia is free.

For further information about events in La Spezia and Liguria, please visit our new website www.aboutliguria.com

The former monumental port of the city will host a permanent exhibition entitled “Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection” until June 6th 2010. Therefore, visitors will still have a few months to go to the stunning and picturesque city of Venice in order to visit Palazzo Grassi, which together with Punta della Dogana, will be the background of a selection of works belonging to the distinguished François Pinault.

The exhibition, set by Alison M. Gingeras and Francesco Bonami, hosts 200 works created by 60 different artists and wants to communicate the liveliness and curiosity for research and discovery which through the years has created one of the greatest collections of contemporary art in the world, showing in this way the relationship between the private dimension of artists’ studio and the personal point of view of the collector.

Such a parallelism wants to become the starting point of a communicative approach between the works of famous artists and creations made by the inspiration of young up-and-coming artists.

In fact, at the exhibition “Mapping the Studio” in Venice, it is possible to marvel at masterpieces created by important artists like Jeff Koons, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Cy Twombly and works by emerging artists such as Matthew Day Jackson, Adel Abdessemed, Wilhelm Sasnal andRob Pruitt.

A very special exhibition not to be missed, and don’t forget about the wonderful city of Venice!

For more detailed information about exhibitions, events, museums and monuments in Venice, please take a look at our up-to-date tourist guide About Venice: www.aboutvenice.org.

The exhibition, entitled “Knights. From the Templars to Napoleon” will take place until April 11th 2010, so visitors will have still a few months to retrace the history of such valorous and brave knights who have been portrayed and shown in about 120 works on display: statues, paintings, dresses, wonderful armours, precious jewels and rare manuscripts. A real treasure to marvel at, in all its splendour and majesty.

In fact, the exhibition, organized by the Consorzio di Valorizzazione Culturale La Venaria Reale and hosted by the Reggia, is aimed to tell the several stories of the different knightly orders belonging to different ages, from Middle Ages to Renaissance, who fought in the name of Christ and struggled for their fatherland and moral values. Stories wrapped in a past full of battles, intrigues and dangerous happenings with brave men belonging to a far and different age.

This wonderful exhibition is framed by a special background, the Venaria Reale, a unique environmental and architectural continuum of extraordinary charm, a boundless, varied, spectacular estate where visitors will inevitably be enveloped by magical atmospheres in a context of cultural attractions and multiple leisure pursuits.

Thanks to such a stunning exhibition, you will have the chance to live again in centuries of European history, among paintings, statues, sumptuous dresses and precious jewels, and among known and unknown mysterious faces.

Among the many works on display, we remind you masterpieces such as the Equestrian Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria, a Knight of Santiago by Rubens, the Portrait of a Knight of Malta by Titian, the Portrait of a Knight of St. Maurice by Carracci, the Portrait of a Knight by Fra’ Galgario, the Portrait of St. John the Baptist by Mattia Preti.

Many other masterpieces await you in the city of Turin until April 11th 2010. You still have a few months!

For further information about exhibitions, events and museums in Turin, please visit our website www.aboutturin.com, your always up-to-date tourist guide about Turin!

Where
Rooms of the Arts, Upper Floors of the Reggia di Venaria (Turin)

When
From November 28, 2009 to April 11, 2010

Opening Times
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: h 9 - 18.30
Saturday: h 9 – 21.30
Sunday: h 9 - 20
Monday: Closed (except Holidays and Monday December 7, 2009, same opening times as Sunday)
Last admittance: 1 hour before closing time

Tickets
Full price : € 8.00
Discounted: € 6.00 (over 65, under 18)
Groups: € 6.00 (max 25 / min. 12 people per group)
Schools: € 4.00 (15 students minimum accompanied by 1 teacher)
Free of charge: children under 12 years (accompanied by an adult)

The 6^th Exhibition of Modern and Contemporary Art will host over 90 galleries with works which belong to several art movements, such as Expressionism, Surrealism, Futurism, Dada, Cubism, Abstractism til Pop Art and the most recent creations of contemporary art.

In addition, the exhibition wants to give space to stand-out artists and to the most innovative creations of art, especially to photography and video-art.

Among the others, we remind you some of the greatest artists: Balla, De Chirico, Fontana, Klee, Magritte, Picasso, Rosai, Tamburi, Warhol… The others? Go and find them in the ancient ans historical city of Genoa, which puts side by side magnificent historical palaces and modern buildings designed by Renzo Piano.

The exhibition preview will take place on Thursday 25th February at 6 pm at Pavillion B of the Fair building in Genoa. We remind you that the exhibition offers free entry to groups of students accompanied by teachers (please inform about the hours of groups at 049 8800305).

For further information about the exhibitions, events in the city of Genoa, please visit our website www.aboutliguria.com.

Anyway, it’s a pretty good excuse to have some fun!

For further information about Viareggio Carnival, please visit the official website www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com

This fascinating city revives every year the ancient tradition from the time of Serenissima. It is believed that the year of 1296 is the one when the famous Carnival became an official festivity. At the beginning, the Carnival lasted much longer, about 6 weeks, or even a couple of months. Venetians bore masks in many occasions and, hiding their identity, they felt free to do all sorts of things, which presented Venice as a city of unrestrained pleasure and party. And they had that much of a fun that Serenissima had to put some new laws and rules regarding masks, in order to put a limit on a moral decay of Venetians.

In the XVIII century, Venice became known to all Europe as a city of Carnival, famous for its balls, spectacles, masks and theaters. The most important days of the Carnival, since the ages of Serenissima until our days, are the last Thursday before Lent and Shrove Tuesday.

The Carnival had a long pause when Serenissima fell under the power of Austria, but the will to revive this interesting and emotional tradition made its move, and the festivity returned to be repeated on a regular bases. The streets of the city become full of masked people in a mixture of happiness, colors and music.

For the detailed program of the Carnival 2010 please visit the official website www.carnevale.venezia.it.

For all the useful information about the city of Venice, please visit our website www.aboutvenice.org

The exhibition, called SOUTH-EAST, shows us over 200 moments captured by the lens of the photographer during his trips in South and East, mostly Afghanistan, India, Tibet and Burma.

His well known portrait of an Afghan girl in a refugee camp in Pakistan arrived all over the world and remained one of the most known and most beautiful in the field of photography. It was very emotional the moment when McCurry found again the girl, 17 years later, now as a mature woman, and made her new portrait which captured all the experience and suffering of the years that had passed and let their mark on her face.
Like these, there’s a lot of other photos at the exhibition that tell us about joy and torments in life. Great patience of the photographer rewarded him with the possibility to capture a glimpse at people’s soul, mistrustful at the beginning.

The extraordinary adventure and carrier of Steve McCurry started when he took off for India to work as a freelance. In the country of meditation he learned that patience opens a lot of possibilities, and that, sooner or later, as he said, “people will forget the camera and the soul will drift up into view”.

The carrier of the photojournalist who brings us the authentic image of war from the most sever fronts in the world, gave him some very prestigious awards like: the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad, Magazine Photographer of the Year awarded by the National Press photographers Association, and the win in the World Press Photo Contest.

The photo itinerary of the exhibition in some moments will make you laugh, in others it will make you shudder, it will make you talk and discuss and it will leave you speechless. Unfortunately, it lasts only until January 31st.

If you’d like to know some more about the life and work of Steve McCurry, please visit his official website www.stevemccurry.com

Hours:
Mondays from 14:00 to 19:30
Tuesday-Sunday from 9:30 to 19:30
Thursdays from 9:30 to 22:30

Tickets:
full price €8
reduced price €6.50
school reduced price €3

Where:
Palazzo della Ragione
Piazza dei Mercanti 1, Milan

For further info about museums and events in Milan please visit our website www.aboutmilan.com

For further info about the city of Sanremo please visit our website www.aboutliguria.com